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But dumb luck wouldn’t keep him alive for much longer. He just knew it. He could feel it in his bones. Something was coming. Someone was coming. And if he didn’t figure out how to keep himself safe, it wouldn’t matter whether he was worried he’d never be ready to take over the throne or not.
“Talk to me, little princeling,” Jeremiah said, settling on his ass and crossing his legs as he rested his arms on his knees.
Remi tried not to look at how his bare torso was glistening under the fluorescent lighting of the gym. He wasn’t exactly sure what number it had been when he hit the ground, but it had one hundred percent been Jeremiah’s fault because he’d whipped his shirt off and then went right back to sparring like it was no big deal. Remi’s hands hadn’t been able to keep up, too distracted by the ridiculous amount of muscles on Jeremiah’s torso and the way his hair had gotten messed up.
Pulling himself up into a sitting position, Remi cleared his throat. “It’s fine. Like you said, I’m just whining. Maybe we should call it a night, though, and continue tomorrow.”
As he started to climb to his feet, he was surprised when Jeremiah grabbed his wrist, holding him in place on the mat. “No, you need to tell me what’s going on. One minute, you’re all gung ho, and now it’s like you want to give up. Did you really think it would be easy?”
Remi shrugged. “A little bit. I mean, I know I’m half human, but the other half of me is supposed to have amazing reflexes and superhuman strength. But it’s like all of me is human when it comes to stuff like this.”
That time, he got the privilege of seeing Jeremiah rolling his eyes at him. “Listen, kid, if all it took was some fancy DNA for people to know how to protect themselves, to fight, how to survive when a threat is looming over them, I’d be out of business. Just having an edge over humans doesn’t mean most of us know how to use it. You just need to create the muscle memory. Learn how to break a hold, throw a punch, a kick, whatever is necessary to get you away from whatever the threat is.”
Remi nodded along, considering Jeremiah’s words. He supposed it made sense. Why else would Jeremiah be able to make a living protecting mostly non-humans otherwise?
“Yeah, okay,” Remi said slowly. He looked down at where Jeremiah was still holding on to his wrist, the heat from his fingers seeping into his skin.
It was like Jeremiah didn’t realize he’d still been doing it. As soon as Remi drew his attention to it, he jerked his hand back like he’d gotten a jolt of electricity and jumped to his feet.
Remi stood more slowly, keeping an eye on the jumpy Hellhound, but Jeremiah kept his back to him, shoulders hunched forward.
Biting back his sigh of disappointment, Remi rubbed at the dull ache between his pecs at the rude dismissal.
He focused on keeping his breathing even as he padded across the mats toward the exit, keeping his spine ramrod straight.
“Hold up a second.”
Remi took a deep breath, steadying himself, and then turned around. He’d nearly made it to the door, so he was forced to watch Jeremiah’s brutishly elegant body jog toward him. His bare feet slapped on the mats, ringing out in the giant, empty space. He wasn’t sure exactly how everyone knew to stay away while they were working, but he had a feeling it had to do with the man coming toward him.
Whether because he’d told them to steer clear or because they were too scared of Jeremiah to interrupt was hard to say.
Jeremiah slowed as he drew near. “Before you go, I need you to be straight with me. Is all of this—” He gestured at the room around them. “—because you don’t feel safe under my protection? Because if that’s what’s really going on, I can get another one of my guys in here tomorrow.”
Remi was shaking his head before Jeremiah even finished his ridiculous question. “No. Gods, no!” He studied Jeremiah’s closed-off expression as he took a few steps closer. “It is the opposite of that. No one has ever made me feel as safe as you do. You have saved my life twice.” Remi held up two fingers right in front of Jeremiah’s face, smiling at the instant scowl that earned him. “You almost died the first time, and you were shot the second time. How could you even think, for half a second, that I would want anyone else? That’d I’d want someone less amazing than a badass superhuman Hellhound who has managed to keep me alive—even when my dumb ass wasn’t listening and wasn’t taking the threat seriously? I don’t understand how you could ever think—”
Remi’s tirade was cut short by Jeremiah’s lips pressing against his, stealing his words and his breath and his damn thoughts.
He stood frozen for a moment, unsure what was happening, his brain needing to reboot to catch up. Just as the pressure started to lessen, like possibly Jeremiah was about to pull away, Remi reached up, clasped both sides of his face, and held on for dear life. He returned the kiss with as much passion and gusto as he could, sighing with relief when Jeremiah wrapped his arms around his waist and held on to him.
He held on like he was worried Remi would be the one to run away this time.
Yeah, like that would ever happen.
As the kiss went on and on and on, the only clear thought tumbling through Remi’s head was that Jeremiah didn’t seem like he was about to flee either.
Thank the gods.
He was overwhelmed with the feeling of Jeremiah’s soft lips moving carefully against his own and how hot his hands felt through his shirt when they lightly smoothed up and down his back before settling on his hips.
He had never felt as small and delicate as he did in that moment, pressed up against Jeremiah’s bigger and stronger body. Every nerve ending in his body sang with joy that it was finally happening. The tugging sensation in his chest eased, relaxing into a pool of warmth that spread throughout him, filling all the lonely nooks and crannies of his body.
It was magical, and all of those sensations were why it took him so long to notice that Jeremiah was holding back. He was participating in the kiss, sure, but he was letting Remi lead, keeping his touch light and his mouth shut. Frustrated, Remi tried to kiss him harder, tried to provoke a response out of him. He felt Jeremiah’s long fingers twitch against his low back, but that was it.
Peeling his mouth away, he panted against the rough scruff of Jeremiah’s jaw. “Please,” he begged, delving his hands into Jeremiah’s hair, grasping at him desperately. “Please, Sunshine.”
He wasn’t sure if it was the begging or the nickname, but the next thing Remi knew, his back was hitting the wall next to the door, and Jeremiah’s warm, sweaty body was pressed tight against his front.
Jeremiah latched onto the sensitive skin on the side of his throat just beneath the corner of his jaw. He used his teeth, biting just hard enough to make Remi moan, before licking over the spot and saying darkly, “I was working so hard to be good, but gods, you are simply too much temptation.”
